Laravel 12: Pest and multiple databases

Certainly, let's address your testing setup for multiple databases in Laravel 12 + Pest:

Core Issues

1. Database not created for tests (MySQL):
   Laravel's RefreshDatabase/DatabaseMigrations traits ensure the default database is migrated and refreshed for tests. They do not migrate/refresh secondary databases automatically.
2. SQLite in-memory works for default, not for other connections:
   When switching to SQLite-in-memory, migrations only apply to the default connection, unless you explicitly target others.

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Solution Steps:

1. Explicitly Run Migrations on Both Databases During Tests

You'll need to make sure migrations for both databases are executed during testing. Here’s how:

a) In your Pest/Laravel test, update the setUp method:

beforeEach(function () {
    // Run migrations for the default connection (usually 'mysql')
    $this->artisan('migrate', ['--database' => 'mysql', '--path' => '/database/migrations']);

    // Run migrations for the second connection
    $this->artisan('migrate', [
        '--database' => 'db1', // your second connection name
        '--path' => '/database/migrations_db1', // path to db1 migrations, adjust if needed
    ]);
});

• Make sure your migrations for db1 are in a separate directory (e.g. /database/migrations_db1), or you may need to repeat '--path' for each migration file.

b) For in-memory SQLite

If using SQLite, ensure you have these settings in your .env.testing:

DB_CONNECTION=sqlite
DB_DATABASE=:memory:

DB1_CONNECTION=sqlite
DB1_DATABASE=:memory:

And in config/database.php, ensure your secondary connection (db1) can read from the test .env.testing:

'db1' => [
    'driver' => env('DB1_CONNECTION', 'mysql'),
    'database' => env('DB1_DATABASE', 'database_db1'),
    // Other settings...
],

2. Always Specify Connection on Models

Continue using:

protected $connection = 'db1';

on models that use the secondary database.

3. Database Truncation / Refresh

When using RefreshDatabase trait, it only refreshes the default connection. To refresh/truncate tables on the second connection, add in your test:

use Illuminate\Support\Facades\DB;

beforeEach(function () {
    // ...
    DB::connection('db1')->table('your_table')->truncate();
});

Or run migrate:refresh for both.

4. Other Gotchas

• When using MySQL, make sure your MySQL user has privilege to create databases. Otherwise, Laravel cannot create the testing database and will fail.
• Consider setting up a separate database per connection just for tests (e.g., testing_db, testing_db1) and configuring those in .env.testing.

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Summary

• Run migrations for each connection used in your tests.
• Ensure .env.testing and config/database.php are configured to point each connection to proper test DBs.
• If using SQLite, you can use in-memory for both, but each connection must target :memory: or its own sqlite file.
• If using MySQL, make sure the test runner database user has privileges to create databases.

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Example test setup

beforeEach(function () {
    // Migrate main database
    $this->artisan('migrate', ['--database' => 'mysql']);
    // Migrate db1
    $this->artisan('migrate', ['--database' => 'db1', '--path' => '/database/migrations_db1']);
});

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Let me know if you need example database config or specifics on paths/setup!